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The Robotic locomotion community is interested in optimal gaits for control. Based on the optimization criterion, however, there could be a number of possible optimal gaits. For example, the optimal gait for maximizing displacement with respect to cost is quite different from the maximum displacement optimal gait. Beyond these two general optimal gaits, we believe that the optimal gait should deal with various situations for high-resolution of motion planning, e.g., steering the robot or moving in “baby steps.” As the step size or steering ratio increases or decreases, the optimal gaits will slightly vary by the geometric relationship and they will form the families of gaits. In this paper, we explored the geometrical framework across these optimal gaits having different step sizes in the family via the Lagrange multiplier method. Based on the structure, we suggest an optimal locus generator that solves all related optimal gaits in the family instead of optimizing each gait respectively. By applying the optimal locus generator to two simplified swimmers in drag-dominated environments, we verify the behavior of the optimal locus generator.
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Enhancing Maneuverability via Gait Design
The gaits of locomoting systems are typically designed to maximize some sort of efficiency, such as cost of transport or speed. Equally important is the ability to modulate such a gait to effect turning maneuvers. For drag-dominated systems, geometric mechanics provides an elegant and practical framework for both ends—gait design and gait modulation. Within this framework, “constraint curvature” maps can be used to approximate the net displacement of robotic systems over cyclic gaits. Gait optimization is made possible under a previously reported “soap-bubble” algorithm. In this work, we propose both local and global gait morphing algorithms to modify a nominal gait to provide single-parameter steering control. Using a simplified swimmer, we numerically compare the two approaches and show that for modest turns, the local approach, while suboptimal, nevertheless proves effective for steering control. A potential advantage of the local approach is that it can be readily applied to soft robots or other systems where local approximations to the constraint curvature can be garnered from data, but for which obtaining an exact global model is infeasible.
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- PAR ID:
- 10352192
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International Conference on Robotics and Automation
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 5799 to 5805
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA46639.2022.9812061
